So I’m imagining there are going to be two camps out there today. You’ll have the camp that will be over the moon that we’ve responded with a victory after a massive defeat, with a bunch of new players. Then you’ll have the the camp that will say that yesterday was a major struggle and on the face of it, the new players didn’t look like they’d kicked us on a level.
I’m sitting somewhere in-between. Though I could see the benefits of having experienced players in the side, we still lacked that sense of urgency that haunted our game most of last season. There are lots of interesting cogs in the Arsenal machine this season, I’m just not sure the system Wenger is putting them into is going to work that well.
The first major chance of the game fell to us after Arteta picked up the ball centrally and fed Ramsey through the middle, the Welshman some how managed fire it higher than you’d need to for a Rugby World Cup drop goal.
Down our end, Mertesacker had recieved rapturous applause for his first two passes, feeling selfish, he decided to give Chezzer the chance to garner some of his own. The German latched onto a Swansea cross, guided it towards our goal, some how the Pole kept it out with an instant save. I was sitting very close to that and it was a sight to behold!
We were very sloppy in the middle of the park. This wasn’t helped by Frimpong whose passing was wildly off kilter. Like I said a few weeks ago, people are very quick to jump on youth as the solution to an experience problem, thing is, you have to remember he’s only 18 years old. Passion and drive rarely converts into an accomplished teenage midfielder.
We were struggling to get shots on target. Theo broke through from an Arshavin slide rule pass, his effort was bundled off the line with some spectacular last ditch defending from Swansea.
Down the other end, Mertesacker made a double tackle to keep Dyer away from our goal. A few minutes later, Frimpong showed his naivety again by unnecessarily grappling a Swansea player to the ground outside our box. Our players were quite often guilty of watching the player, not the ball yesterday.
Our opening was a bizarre one. The Swansea keeper Vorm made a total hash of rolling the ball out to his full back, he dropped it on his ankles, Arshavin saw, turned and first time slotted the ball from a Kanu-Esque angle into the net. A top piece of finishing from a player I refuse not to love.
Ouch...
The second half opened with a bit of action. The giant pole waver clumped a female photographer over the head when she wasn’t looking. Maybe she forgot to get him a beer at half time? Who knows… it took 9 stewards about 20 minutes to remove her, I’m pretty sure she was ok. Some of the crowd cruelly sang, ‘Are you Diaby in disguise’ and ‘You’re staying down for compo!’. Not me… I find singing at the ground appalling.
Robin opened the half with a thumping hit of the post. Swansea retaliated after by clipping the bar with a Scott Sinclair freekick. The rest of the half kind of panned out without too much to talk about.
We slipped into panic stations after 70minutes, pretty much a standard with Arsenal sides of late. Even with the added experience, we couldn’t avoid that. We also showed a total lack of urgency or will to kill off the game. We should have capitalised on their morale dip after the goal and we should have looked to improve our lack lustre goal difference. It’s no good saying that Swansea are a good team, so are Bolton, United didn’t settle for one, they absolutely destroyed them.
I guess the toughest question we have to ask ourselves at the moment is where are the goals going to come from this year?
Robin Van Persie looked incredibly isolated up front on his own. I’m not sure this whole loan striker option is going to work without a Cesc or a Nasri in the side. He needs support up top. At the same time, the team needs to take more responsibility for creating decent chances for him.
There were some positives that came out of the game, no doubt about that. For starters, having a player of thee size and stature of Per Mertesacker in your back four is pretty incredible. He towers over everyone. He boasts so much height that when he high fived the Gunnersaurus he was nearly at eye level with him.
He’s a thoughtful defender who defends cleanly. He was a nuisance for corners down there end. I think his presence will be a calming one and he’ll certainly give us a big advantage against long ball merchants. My one concern for him will be against the pacey tricky players. Will his slow turning ability cause him problems? Or can he rely on whoever partners him to deal with that side of the game?
Arteta had quite a disappointing first start. His integration into the side was seamless. He has great technique, he’s not afraid to stick his boot in but his overall impact wasn’t amazing. I thought he was quite slow on the ball yesterday and I was hoping to see him take more of a lead against weak opposition. Still, it’ll take him time like everyone else to settle into his new role. You can’t expect to replace one of the best talents on the planet, you instead have to adapt and work out a new way of playing.
I also found Theo a bit of a struggle, poor finishing an poor crossing dogged his game. If he can iron out those issues, his pace will put him in plenty of great positions this year.
My MOTM performance was to Chezzer. He made a couple of crucial saves, however, it was his absolute domination of the box that impressed me the most. He caught nearly every cross, his distribution was solid and he’s looking more and more like he could become our next in line for the ‘world class’ throne. I wasn’t too sure about Cruyff turning a Swansea player. Keep it simple, don’t let your arrogance get the better of you…
I know it’s only one game into our new season, but my overriding feeling from yesterday is that we’re going to really struggle this year. 4th place isn’t going to be straight forward, it’s going to be a battle. We’re in yet another transitional year but at least we have experienced heads to fall back on. The team won’t have much time to practice together. It’s off to Germany to face a very, very good Dortmund side on Tuesday. An exciting match with some very exciting players on show.
We’ll have all the suspended mob back and ready to play. Song and Gervinho will be like new signings, hopefully we’ll find a bit more of a creative edge by then!
P.S. Not sure why everyone who wasn’t at the game kept saying the atmosphere was poor yesterday, I thought it was ok?
Ratings:
- Chezzer 7
- Gibbs 6
- Mertesacker 6.5
- Koscielny 6.5
- Sagna 6.5
- Rambo 6.5
- Frimpong 5
- Arteta 6.5
- Walcott 5.5
- Robin 6
- Andrey 7
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comparable to Yaya? behave!
and you can count these ‘full flow’ games on one hand…
Radio Raheem: yeah, beginning of Sept.
Diaby is obviously in the physical dominance, it’s the brain that goes blank too often.
And not sure 3 months planned by Wenger to re-program his brain is enough.
gambon
how much is almunia on?
I would like to see Diaby never to put our beloved shirt on again. His work rate is totally shite.
Yeah that might be the case Cesc Rule. I’m not sure our lil Arshavin can hack 3 matches in seven days. With Wenger speaking of Arteta’s ‘technical security’ and Yossi’s ‘dynamic mobility’ we might see Yossi instead of Ramsey.
So,
Song Arteta
Yossi
Theo RvP Gervinho
Theo has scored most of our goals so I’d expect him start.
So subs will be Ramsey, Ju and Santos if Gibbs pulls his hammy
Lol, Diaby had had about 3 good games ever. Embarassing comparison.
Its like saying Park Chu Young is comparable to Ronaldo cos he scored a hat trick last week.
Suga3
I didn’t say similar situation. I said similar squad as in no abundance of world class players but very good players nonetheless. People wrote us off that year but we surprised many. And that was the year that rooney and ronaldo were playing some world class footie and their defence were extra tight . And yet it took an eduardo injury for them to finish above us.
That’s the type of players we have now so we ll be strong
Ivorygoonz
Yes we are stronger. What’s the point of having fabregas give 15 assists and goals a season yet cant defend for shit. If I have to choose between a defensively weak midfield but attackminded or a defensively strong midfield yet attackminded , I ll choose the latter , and that’s what we got now . For example that’s what arteta offers , creativity AND defence. Though I m not saying Arteta is better than Fab , I just think maybe he ll be more suited to us
Geez even barca were dire in the second half yesterday.
Vermaellen is out till november at the earliest with lil jack about the same time….aw is not talking to his bosses still….rvp is not a happy dude cos he wants to play in the db10 hole…ramsey is scared of getting a knock again…the board are sounding out more replacements than mvb and frank db as the amsterdammers are flying….and using others to secure late signings ala santos and hiddink….gibbs has a hammy again….but all’s not too bad at lc as the newbies have settled in….but where’s the real class, where’s the top striker for rvp?….looking towards Cavanni but there’s no way that’ll happen…..the yank keeps intouch by email update weekly…..
Mayank, who knows, certainly not you.
However bearing in mind he was our first choice and we cant offload him, and wengers pathetic socialist equal pay principles, £35k is way off.
Gooby: I know the question is for Gambon, anyway,
knowing Szczesny signed a 30k/wk last season, Almunia is at least on 35k, and under 65k, but his contract was not disclosed last time he resigned (in 2008 I think).
so likely to be between 45 and 55k/wk + clean sheets bonus and appearances. Saying 50k is a good average I’d say
We are a mid table team. I know I’m being optimistic but I dont think we will go down!!
naija,
we had a great team that year, what are you on about?
- Adebayor pisses all over Chamakh
- Hleb was a great player
- Flamini was better than Song will ever be
- Cesc v Arteta? no contest
and you seem to forget that the competition is MUCH tighter these days, there was no City back then!
“Though I m not saying Arteta is better than Fab , I just think maybe he ll be more suited to us”
Cant……quite…….reach…….them……straws!!
Naija: then in all fairness, we are stronger in defence, but we are much weaker in attack.
so we are stronger as a result?
we might concede less, but without scoring them goals, how you gonna win that 4th spot? thanks to Lady Luck?
IG,
he must have signed another contract on the hush since, as it beggars belief that he could have been given a 4 year deal?
Transfermarkt had him out of contract in June 2010 couple of years ago…
he’s out of contract next summer. and he’s praying szczesny, fabianski, and mannone get injured, or he’s gone.
http://www.soccer-blogger.com/2008/04/03/manuel-almunia-signs-contract-extension/
at the time “it is rumoured to be a long-term” contract
pen for WBA, Odemwingie fucked it up…
I quite like Arteta playing as the deep-lying playmaker. He could be our very own Pirlo. Then he might need a more mobile ball winner like M’Vila.
Suga Song is better positionally and on the ball than Flamini. What Flamini has over Song is pace and mobility. Flamini and Cesc worked so well because, I think, Cesc played deeper at the time.
It isn’t surprising that Wenger went for M’Vila. I’m not so sure signing Arteta was as panicked as some think.
one had made a joke last year:
http://www.onlinegooner.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?p=458386&sid=7ea73bc215b08d8495b8a32a75aff45e
Lack of pace and drive in midfield was a worry. At one point we had Ramsey, Areteta and Yossie just standing next to each other and no one making any runs or showing urgency. RVP desperately needs support from these three.
Forget Almunia. They say a world class keeper is worth at least 10pts per season. Almunia was at least -(minus) 12ts.
I think Chesney put his first 2pts on his total yesterday.
Chesney Watch- watch this space.
Here’s a question for u Le-grovers , who gets the arm band when Van persie and Vermaelen is not playing ?( there’s a distinct possibility of that happening soon).
Song better positionally and on the ball than Flamini?
now I’ve heard it all, this is probably why he is caught in no man’s land left, right and centre and has to foul his man?
naija, Theo or Sagna
naija,
Sagna?
RR: I dont think Wenger has the same definition of panic buy as everyone else…
whether Cesc was leaving on 15th august or 30th august, he should have signed Arteta on 1st june if he was a first target.
But we went again for targets that we perfectly know will get better offer elsewhere, because we play it hard on negotiations, and then fell back on Arteta once the deadline was approaching and couldnt get Mata and others. To me, that’s the definition of panic buying.
but correct if Im wrong, I admit english is not my first language.
Theo? pffffft…
Naija: Sagna, (suggested already yesterday), but Wenger should know best, rather than telling Chamakh “there’s 10 minutes to go, I don’t give a sh*t who gets it”…
what an elbow
Song’s fouling has more to do with his lack of mobility or lack of pace. On occassions, he is caught out. Even Makelele committed a lot of fouls you know…it’s part of the job description Suga.
Do you think Flamini is better on the ball than Song?
Do you think Flamini’s manic running has something to do with his poor positioning?
Seria A is generally regarded as a more ‘tactical’ league. Do you think Flamini’s poor attention to tactical positioning might have something to do with his lack of opportunities as Milan?
Just like Flamini was used as a full back at Arsenal he has been used in a similar position at Milan. I think the tactical demands of a full back are, arguably, lower than than of a CM…just saying.
f*g ref.
when is he gonna give Norwich a penalty?
Suga3
Flamini looked good that year because he stayed deeper most of the time and he had fabregas to help him defence( fab was defensively sound that year but he’s being defensively shit ever since)
Play song deep most of the time and have another defensively sound midfielder next to him and u ll see he’s good. Also song has better positioning than flamini. Also park is going to be better than adebayor for us. We had cesc and hleb that year. But this year we have arshavin , arteta , wilshere and benayoun so I don’t think we are offensively weaker than that 07/08 team.
Gambon
Don’t be a smartass buddy. If u got a point to make just do it.
Ivorygoonz
Trust me the goals will come soon. We will gel and start playing attractive footie again. As long as we drop ramsey and replace him with benayoun.
We have the players but the formation sucks. Wenger needs to improve in that department.
Gambon why are you having a two sided conversation with me without me answering. On second though I don’t wanna know.
Ivorygoonz
Trust me the goals will come soon. We will gel and start playing attractive footie again. As long as we drop ramsey and replace him with benayoun.
———-
yeah, sure, we’ll have finished gelling early November, with the games coming, then lose few players at the CAN, and by Jan, we’ll be eventually 6th with as many injuries as now, and RVP and Gervinho on fire. Then Wenger will be happy, not strengthen in Jan, ask to believe, and you know how it ends.
On Benny, did you see how many balls Benny actually lost yesterday? and that’s when he came on, that we actually started losing the plot and panik?
Ivory, I agree he should have signed Arteta earlier. I’m sure everyone would agree on that. Leaving things this late might have been a ‘business’ decision, something Wenger is not completely in control of. I think Wenger identifies the players and the team of ’20′ or so make the signings. I might be wrong though.
If we signed all the players we did in May/June, even after selling Cesc and Nasri, I’m sure we would be, at least, 6 points better off.
Aren’t most PL keepers on about 35K? I could be totally wrong about this.
(not that there really ever was a plot though…)
If only we still had Eboue eh Goonz?
Radio raheem
Theo ??? Really ? I d rather give the arm band to an opposition player.
playing Song with a more defensively minded midfielder?
Park better than Ade?
fuck me, gambizzle was right, you really ain’t got no scooby!
Actually pedro, it was the swansea player who toed it towards goal, not per
…
RR: yep, just saving pennies here and there, but that cost us points.
Mayank: if you count Norwich, QPR, WBA, or low-tier keepers, yeah, that might average 35k.
but if you talk top 6, its all more than that, and if 30k was given for Szescny for his first “first team” contract, you can be sure Almunia earned towards twice that figure in his last extension.
a keeper can earn as much as your best paid player in big clubs, with clean sheet bonus and appearances, can reach say 150k all included (basic of 60k/90k depending on club) for a 28-29 yr old.
Although a keeper like Almunia could never justify earning as much as a Cesc at Arsenal, a keeper like Buffon or Casillas or Cech/Van der Saar earns at least 75k basic wage.
Park 21 goals in 55 appearances for S. Korea
Ade 18 in 42 for Togo
S. Korea – ranked 33
Togo – 109
Yep they’re incomparable.
I’d prefer Sagna but after Sagna who else has got more experience playing for us? I don’t have the facts but I think it might be Theo, why is why I picked him. Who to give the captaincy isn’t an issue though with 6 or 7 national captains in our squad. First let them have their feet under the desk then we can cast a lot on who should be el capitan.
Adebayor – that CUNT did not lift a single finger in 2 legs against Man U in the Champions League Fucking Semi Fucking Final
Fuck him and fuck anyone who would have that cunt anywhere near our team ever again.
Best of luck to him tho.
Mayank: at least with Eboue in the dressing room he would have lifted some spirit…
but I wonder where Eboue’s idea has come from Mayank, just trying to wind me up maybe?
Suga3
So Ade is now Henry then huh ? Yea he scored 20 something goals but let’s not even talk about the hundreds of chances he missed.
And yea play Song next to an Arteta and u ll see the difference. Don’t let your dislike for the guy blur your judgment.
I was comparing him to Sorenson, Given, Schwartzer. His level of keeper. I believe they’d earn about 35-40k. But given the fact we had so much trouble offloading him I think it’d be closer to 50k.
Haha Ivory, Well spotted!
After Sagna, if there’s no older player, like Rosicky, you should give it to your keeper. not to a winger or a striker ffs.
naija,
I don’t dislike Song, I just don’t think he is good enough…
slow, dumb as fuck and indisciplined…
For 35k Athletico Madrid, or Malaga or Osasuna would have signed him.
For 50k? never.
If we’re playing Gervinho, Theo and Arsh on the wings, essentially all are strikers, the idea of two DMs is not a very bad one. However for Arteta – Song to work JW needs to be playing as well.
Fulham on, I wonder what Ruiz will do. I quite like him.
“slow, dumb as fuck and indisciplined…” Are you sure you’re not making 3 points out of one.
two defensive midfielders, fuck me pink, do you really fancy seeing the repeat of the 08/09 crab football wankfest?
@Dutchman 12:57
If you want to know if I care, I do. Unlike you I don’t think it would be good to drop out of the top 4, I like the fact that we’re Champions League and that we compete in the competition, I wouldn’t want it any other way.
I gave an assessment of what I believe the club is capable of this season. The best I believe we can achieve is 3rd, and I believe the odds are strongly against that. We need to find our form quickly, pull wins out of nowhere like we did against Swansea when necessary and generally push on from there.
I do believe there is a chance we’ll choke, simply because we had the worst start to the season for over 42 years, and the worst defeat since 1896.
We can only fancy Arsenal off historic form, not off recent form. I don’t recognise Arsenal at the moment, we’re just not ourselves and there’s only one way to respond to that, to go on a winning run.
There are plenty of positives from the Swansea game. As expected, Mertesacker is a decent defender and gives us the physicality needed to defend from set pieces and intimidate opposing strikers. Arteta fits straight in. Benayoun is a decent squad player to have.
I don’t think Gibbs should have been played for the whole game, because he’s not match fit. Santos should have been given half a game. I don’t agree with Chamakh getting the armband, I’m eager to see Ju-Young in action after his goal scoring bonanza for S.Korea.
So there you have it Dutchman, if there’s any doubt, I want Arsenal to win every game and exceed all my expectations but the fact of the matter is, at the moment, there are big question marks about how quickly we’ll improve as I have no doubt we will with our new signings, and whether we can perform consistently well.
Mayank,
no, these are 3 separate points:
- he is slow, he may be quicker than D******n, but that’s it
- he is not a very intelligent player
- he is indisciplined, but it’s nothing that can’t be cured with docking his wages a few times
just watched the dortmund highlights where they lost 1-2 at home to hertha… their defence doesn’t look that good even with subotic and hummels (ours isn’t any better), does anyone know why gotze wasn’t playing? hope hes injured otherwise he may well tear us a new one..
You mean the season where we scored as much as the winners.
Suga but he does think he’s a gangster
CRM: Gotze had been playing the international game, and was purposedly kept for us… be ready to buy new shorts, you’ll need them
He is slow yet many time the only player left to tackle a counter attack. It’s because of this he sometimes gives away silly fouls. Which doesn’t make him look rather intelligent or disciplined.
WIth another DM besides him this might be reduced to a extent.
When you have great players you really appreciate them when they are gone. This club is in transition (decline) that has lasted 4-5 years. The quality that has left has simply not been replaced with like for like.
Let’s look at the spuds. ‘Arry is doing his typical wheeling and dealing. Capturing Adebayor and getting someone else to pay most of his wages. Prick that he is, he will score goals for them. Maximizing his available resources is what he is doing. Their salary bill is 50% of Arsenal’s. Stop getting caught up in the hype surrounding Wenger and his fantastic dealing. He is paying out almost 130m of our clubs money on mediocre players.. With a few good ones.. And a few great ones in the mix. (and a few prospects) That’s 60m pa more that spuds… We are a bigger club and we have more resources than them. However, we choose not to utilize it all, hence our fucking enormous bank balance. So pipping the spuds to 4th is really no great achievement. It’s a minimum requirement and a reasonable expectation Mister Wenger so get fucking over calling it an achievement.
Let’s look at the transfers. 5 players in! Well Wenger was saying we only needed 2-3 players. And we now know he was going to stick with this. Only injuries forced him to bring in two extra. Well thank fuck for that! It will certainly help us in the medium term until we stabilize and try to turn things around.
But let’s not forget:
Benayoun is no Pires
Mertesacker is no Adams
Santos is no Cole
Arteta is no Fabregas
Chu-Young is no Bergkamp
That’s the plain and simple reality. I want all those new players to do exceptionally well and I’ll cheer their every good touch! I hope like every Gooner we win every game. If we get our first choice 11 out we have a decent side. But let’s not get carried away and think we are sorted. Keep demanding improvement; keep demanding a return to greatness, and keep demanding world class players. We deserve it. Arsenal deserves it. We are a top club and we have a right to demand that standards are maintained and never again witness the appalling spectacle we saw 2 weeks ago at Old Trafford. That was not just an ‘aberration’ it was a betrayal of everything that is great about this club. The spirit of the great 1 nil to the Arsenal teams. The spirit of the Invincibles. The spirit of Martin Keown screaming into Van Nistelroy’s face! I’ve seen Arsenal players get stitched up and get back on the field with bloodied bandages around their head and give their all for this club. Shame on you Wenger (and the board) for allowing our history to be desecrated like that. So many of our great players past, alive and dead would be horrified and deeply ashamed by that. Yep, those same players who earned 100 quid a week. It should never have been allowed to come to such a low. Never. Now put it right or fuck off… thanks
It’s no shame to ask for such things and at the same time support your team on the field.
Was that Winston Churchill or David Brent?
well said Thomas!
(I even catch myself laughing at some of ‘Arry’s joke during his press-conferences and answering with wit to wind-up reporters… tells you all really. Cant remember when was the last Wenger press-conference I actuall watched and that I laughed positively)
Thomas is based on your evaluation because Spurs we have a larger wage bill than Spurs finishing above them is a given. Right?
So by extension, 3 clubs have wage bill exceeding ours by a fair degree, surely that means coming 4th for us is par for the course.
Chezzer
Sagna-Mert-Kos-Santos
Gervinho-Song-Arteta-Arshavin
Park-RvP
Subs: Fabianski, gibbs, JD, walcott,AOC,Benayoun, Frimpong.
I don’t want to see Chamakh ahead of AOC or anybody els. He is fucking shit. When was the last time he scored??
DS,
yep, that’s what he likes to think, I would love to bring a couple of real gangsters around to whoop his and his bouncers’ asses and knock a few ideas out of his peroxided head
Mayank,
…and conceded 13 more goals, finishing 18 points off the top? yep, the same!
I’m very concerned about our team.
I don’t feel that we showed the usual panic as soon as the other team attacked, which is nice for a change, however it’s the same old problem, we can either do well defensively or offensively, but we can’t balance the two.
There was no penetration from midfield yesterday, Ramsey is not ready, Frimpong isn’t either, and if we’re thinking that’s ok because they are only back up to Song, well we have short memories as Song is always one of the culprits when it comes to panic and he gives away possession too much.
I think Arteta looked reasonably good for his debut, and we could even be talking about his first assist if Rambo hadn’t panicked. I’m generally happy we have him, he’s a good player, good composure and doesn’t give the ball away, but he will need to step up and make some of those killer passes, the midfield movement in general wasn’t good enough.
Mertesacker’s calmness was a very reassuring thing for any Arsenal fans, but the fact that we are an injury away from JD and Koscielny (Who had a very good game i thought), with weak midfield protection, is a big concern..
Gibbs had a good game too and was brave going forward, whether he’ll be fit to play the next game all the way till the end, remains to be seen
Walcott is only good running in behind the defence, i would rather he stick to that, even making distraction runs is preferable to running into players on the wing, Gervinho directness will be a welcome addition this season.
I still find it hard to get excited about anything this season.. I don’t believe this team is capable of any better than fourth, which is not, and will never be a trophy, we are still playing the same tired old plays, only now we don’t have the players to do it properly, we aren’t great at keeping possession any more, and we can no longer play beautiful football. We are living off an illusion based on the past, only people are starting to notice, that they can play us if they want without fear, because we are not the Arsenal that everyone has become accustomed to, people aren’t scared of us anymore,
We don’t have the quality we are now famous for, and we don’t have the right mentality. Our squad is thin and now everyone has noticed our shortcomings. The spell is broken and now we are becoming a well worn joke.
“But don’t worry Bill” i hear you cry “we will be able to get some good replacements in the january transfer window”
Well sorry but i don’t believe we will, if you’re expecting Cahill, Hazard, M’Villa and Götze, you’re just kidding yourself, we will never spend the money to get these players (maybe Cahill, if one of our guys gets an injury) and nor will the better ones even want to come, why would anyone join Arsenal at the moment? While Man City will happily buy them just to keep them from playing for anyone else.
The playing field has changed now, we can no longer compete with the elite clubs on a shoe-string, we must flex our muscles in the transfer market just to keep ourselves in the ECL places, and the club shows no signs of being prepared to do what’s necessary..
Basically we are going the way of Liverpool, who were once a great club for whom it would be unthinkable not to win something, and who now would consider 4th place a massive achievement.. I don’t see anyway to avoid this and i don’t see the will to do so coming from the club..
They will only react once it’s too late and there are thousands of empty seats in the Emirates every week because even the most optimistic of fans gets tired of being laughed at and tires of paying the highest prices and being told it’s because of the exciting football we play, expecting we are all too stupid to have noticed all the pathetic displays and humiliating defeats..
Sorry for the long winded rant
Mayank: if you spend twice more, but can’t even finish above them, then that really tells a lot about your manager…
But he hasn’t even said “a given” or what, just said what everybody think, or most, that money in the bank doesn’t win you trophies, is your Sunday only for winding up people on le Grove?
park plays in mid week….gibbs is out for 4 weeks with hammy…rvp has a knock (oh shit!)…aw is outwardly confident but fatally flawed…peter storey says he’s lost it (but pete, you been drinkin son?)….tony a has offered his services for next season….mvb, frank db and db10 are up for the project next year….comments?…..back of a postage stamp or the sides? that’s all ya know dudes….
Good point SUGA3, my point that we’ve scored as many goals as the leaders playing crab football was completely destroyed by you kindly pointing out that we conceded more goals than them.
Frankly i cant believe we will be anywhere close to top six without some sort of change in system. theo cant beat one man, and Ramsey is not the answer to midfield problems. Wenger found a new word for Arteta “technical security” and i think he is right. He is light years behind Cesc atacking quality wise, but he wont give the ball away easily since his basics like touches and short passing are right.
Need to start playing Chamberlain on wings and Theo and Park upfront on a rotation basis.
Considering the back 5 pick themselves with injuries and inabilities,
we can either play
Chamberlain-Frimpong/Song-Ramsey-Arshavin
RVP
Theo/Park
or
Chamberlain-Frimpong/Song-Arshavin
RVP
Theo/Park – Park/Chamakh
In any case the system need to be changed…. and no point sticking Theo on to the wing. That guy is a good finisher lets just try and make use of his biggest strength. Enough of education ffs.
Actually feel the same about Almunia. There is not as big a gap between him and Chezzers as most people think.
When we last a had a decent side – 07/08- he was more than fine, not a problem
What a bunch of mugs the bindippers are for selling Meireles. Apart from Lucas he was the only other CM they have that was worth taking.
Meireles or Arteta?
Ivory we compete for twice as many competition as them as well.
missed Arteta
Chamberlain-Frimpong/Song-Ramsey/Arteta-Arshavin
RVP
Theo/Park
Mayank.
Exactly right…
I don’t expect to win the league every year.. I just expect we give it a bloody good stab and put all our efforts.. (and financial resources) into it… It we fall short well.. so be it.. It’s gonna take an almighty achievment to overtake city over the next few years.. if not next to impossible..
However, How do you explain Man U winning the title last year over Man City and Chelsea who are bigger spenders???
So they over achieved. Man City and Chelsea underachieved and we finished where we should have really. Although for a moment there it looked like we had a real chance of overachieving!
And we spend 60m more per year than them on salaries.. That’s not small change… There was really never any chance of Ramsey or Walcott opting for spurs now was there? Spurs couldn’t compete: Ramsey had a choice of Utd or Arsenal.. So we have already a huge advantage over them. Ask Hazard… Spurs or Arsenal.. what do you think he would say?? So yes, I fully expect to be ahead of spurs every year and NOT consider it a huge achievement and a reason to lick the managers crack!
Now if he finishes in the top 3 I may reconsider my last statement
Mayank: we are all ruled by the same 25-man squad.
Thomas, I actually agree with you. We should be finishing above Spurs and if we don’t its an embarrassment. Like it was for City when they finished below them.
However beating the 3 people above us will be as embarrassing for them. Considering what they pay compared to us.
I hardly read long posts that was a good read Honest Bill. I agree with you that we are unlikely to see any signings in January except we have a manor injury crises.
*major
some people just refuse to accept that Wenger is not a particularly good manager:
- zero tactical nous
- no man management skills whatsoever
- shocking squad fitness record
- spending money on shit players
shall I carry on?
Suga3: keep is for next May, might need it
Thanks Raheem,
I got a little carried away haha
*keep it
So to finish up Mayank.. as I’m off now!
I was focussing purely on resources… So any manager that brings Arsenal in under 4th is underachieving in my opionion and not deserving to stay in the job.. although every one deserves a chance to get it right.
Now this is the beauty of football. Managers do make a difference. A big difference. Liverpool have thrown hundreds of millions at it over the last 20 years and got no where. Bad managers generally… Big managers get big results from their teams and make big decisions. (supported by the board!) Wenger has built some reasonably good teams over the years.. and a great one in 2004. If it was only down to money we could just draw up the league table in August and not bother even going through the motions..
By paying good money to young players we have effectively ‘cornered that market’ by attracting the young talents.
Now the combination of a good manager and good resources gives you a fighting chance and because of this variable there will always be different opinions.
the new players will not kick us on a leel because they are they aren’t good enough,yesterday was shocking,things will not get better for us,we are bang in trouble this season.
level*
Right, Im off too, good evening Grovers
Utd, Citeh & Chavs are battling it out for the league, they have far stronger squads and will add again in January if required. These teams are virtually guaranteed to fill the top 3, they are way ahead of us now, we simply cant compete anymore. We are in the next big battle which is for 4th with the Spuds & Pool, and maybe a decent FA or Carling run with luck. I fear Champions Lge may be over by Christmas.
How anyone thinks we will compete is beyond me, we cannot and will not. The top 3 are miles ahead, no question.
3 league titles
2 doubles
a Champs league final
an unbeaten season
2 league cup finals with reserves
Suga, the above would say he is not a bad manager, just lost his way and maybe the plot!
Not defending the mistakes of the last 3 seasons by the way!
Zorr0,
you forgot to add:
has not won shit for six years and counting and appears oblivious to the bleeding obvious…
if he lost his way and/or the plot, that makes him a shit manager in my book!
firstly playing rvp in lone striker position is waste he is not suited he is much better suited in a free role just off the striker much berdkamp,i feel this team can finish in top 4 but will need players like gilvanho to have real big season.i feel ramsey is real qulity player he is much better in a free role much rvp.
If we get our shit together, we can challenge the Chavs for third, but that’s about it.
People are overrating them. Lampard, Drogba, Anelka, Malouda, Essien are all finished.
Mata is the only one who excites me. I guess a lot depends on Torres though
anyone think we can get a win on tuesday in germany?
and I can make a bet of honour that six will extend to seven…
Ledge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRVWfj2SZtE
Yep, incesc. Have a funny feeling about that one. 2-1 Arsenal. Santos screamer and Arteta free-kick.
(Did anyone else notice that set-piece responsibilities were on the whole ceded by RvP to Mikel?)
Gibbs was horrible defensively yesterday. Clichy looks like Zanetti when compared to Gibbs defensively.
Those worrying about Santos’ defensive play shouldn’t really worry. He can’t be much worse than Gibbs.
yeah and he made RvP look like Pirlo!
rohan,this teams is not getting nothing together we are so shit now it’s unbelievable,wenger has a lot to answer for,the cunt spends big money on chamberlain and puts him on in a match where we are getting destroyed,the money he spent on him could of went to better use….
Surely most people can see that with the squad we have, we can still do a lot better than our performance yesterday?
We have 5 new players, it was after a int’l break , the entire squad had 2 days of training to get to know each other, and confidence must have been at an alltime low after the Utd. game.
Dunno about you, but I wasn’t expecting a vintage performance. What we saw yesterday, was about what I expected.
I liked Arteta’s experience and maturity in midfield especially in the second half. Jack and Aaron can learn a lot from him.
It all comes down to lack of quality personnel. I don’t know if it’s really Wenger who is at fault here or the board, but i do know that both parties have consistently said that he can spend the money if he wants, either he has lost his touch and genuinely thinks this team is good enough (i find that hard to believe) or he is happy to lie his arse off to protect the board’s penny pinching and take his huge salary at the expense of his reputation..
If this is the case, and they are using his reputation and all our previous respect for him to keep us in the dark, then he is a willing party to it. Fall guys, always fall eventually, but what will it take? and who would we get in as a replacement?
Those of you thinking the board will be going out and hiring Mourinho or Hiddink are kidding yourselves, they will get some other guy from an unpopular league, and only then will we notice that suspiciously he thinks the team is super quality and doesn’t feel he needs to spend money either..
This manager, that manager, world class manager, shit manager, none of it matters if the board don’t give you the resources, only when their profits begin to suffer will they make some half hearted ‘marquee’ signing..
Kroenke is the man with whom the buck stops, he employs the manager. As long as he is happy with the teams progress (read profit margins) then he will not feel inclined to change. The only way to do that is to stop paying. Once he realises profit margins are suffering, we will have to assume he’s smart enough to identify the problem, and give an injection of resources in to the on field assets
If Wenger won’t spend it (again i just don’t buy that a manager wouldn’t want the best players he can get his hands on) then Kroenke will have to find someone who will, It’s not up to Wenger. He is only the manager. He doesn’t get to dictate club finances.
Again sorry for the rant
nope incesc,dortmund have been saving themselves for us,if udinese can neary beat us just imagine what dortmund will do,wenger knew when that draw come out that we will ose that game,that’s why he was unhappy they were in pot 4…
Anyone saw Cahill yesterday for Bolton? Dunno if it was a one-off but positionally he wasn’t there for me?
we need to be spending 100 million not for the sake of it,but just to keep up,that’s why we need usmanov in and not this clown kronke…..
rooney and hernandes movement was to good,even the best defenders in the world would struggle with them 2 a.t.m
Rohan,
I agree with you, we have more than we showed yesterday, but we still don’t have enough to win the title, i’d say nowhere near, which isn’t good enough,
And we’re only ever a couple of injuries from what we saw yesterday looking like a good day, as has happened the start of this season.
Agree with you about Arteta. Composure is imperative in our MF.
it’s simple,the defensive side to our game just isn’t there,everytime a team attacks us we look like we can concede at any moment.
next 2 games,dortmund and blackburn away,not looking promising…
missed yesterday’s game… espn satr showing pool and chav game – bastards.. was able to watch few minutes on line..
any way a win is a win three points in teh bag
from the reviews and comments i think wenger needs to revert back to 442 or some other formation 433 isn’t working
I hope it gets better. We had this much problem scoring against a team that actually came out to play. It will be brutal when we play teams that pack everyone in front of the goal. We will just pass ourselves silly looking for an opening. Yesteday our counterattack was so slow that Swansea had time to put almost everyone back to defend by the time we got to their end as most of our passes were either sideways or backwards. Hopefully the return of Gervinho will help. By the way, Arsenal players really need to stop getting stupid fouls like Walcott’s. These guys are professional and need to start behaving like it. The other teams are going to learn how easy it his to unhinge Arsenal players and get them sent off. I see a lack of leadership from Wenger on this. Based on the improvements the other teams have made this summer the best we can hope for this season is 4th place unless some serious buying is done in January.
it’s so bad we needed swansea to score for us,van pesie looks completely fucked off and who can blame him,he’s the next one that needs to save himself.
I would’nt give wenger a job cleaning the toilets now,we’re debating silly song over frimpong thats the level we’re at now as we passively drift into sad mediocrity.This busted flush must be gone by december.Give the new boys a bit more time as they become a part of the wenger/board way of doing business,as for technical security can you imagine silly bollocks in charge of group 4
Per’s absolutely smashing website
http://www.per-mertesacker.de/neues/newsdetail/874.htm?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Sensational website Rohan – If only all footballers followed in the same vein
A win is a win and I’m sure the Gunners will take the 3 points. Bottom line, this team is looking confidence poor and it showed often yesterday. It’s going to be a very long season but I am ever hopeful that with the return of Song and Gervinho things will look better offensively (not saying much when you have to count on those two). I’m not convinced that Wilshire will be back soon and TV can only add to a defensive squad that broke down in the second half yesterday. Can someone please explain to me what Theo really is capable of? I’m not seeing Striker nor Midfielder with his decision making skills. Take away his speed and he’s quite frankly nothing. A very long season ahead.
I used to look at Arshavin with frustration but I think after yesterday and everything that I have seen to this point, that Theo has taken over the #1 spot for Brain Cramper of the Year. Immature and petulant at the very least, and will prove to be detrimental moving forward unless someone takes this goof aside and slaps him upside his stupid head.
Theo is a shit one trick pony, deny him space to run into and he wil contribute zilch, simple as that…
Geez but ManU and ManC are looking awfully strong and awfully good. With Chelsea all but assured 3rd this season I’d have to say that 4th really is all that we can realistically go for. Saying that, this team will be lucky to stay middle of the pack with their current form. Returns from injuries and stupidity (reds) can only help. Thank goodness for Chez or we wind up in relegation.
Suga3…Bang on! He’s looked immature, stupid and useless thus far. For someone that offers only a one-dimensional effort, he’s gotten awfully yappy this season. Shut up and play, Theo!
Wouldn’t agree about Chelsea all but assured third Ernie, although Mata did look good yesterday.
City and Utd are streaks ahead of anyone else, and Chelsea are a far bit behind, unless Mata can be THAT good to bridge the gap.
I see it as City/Utd 1st/2nd then either Chelsea 3rd if Mata is amazing and us, Liverpool Spurs 4/5/6 or if Mata isn’t THAT good then Chelsea in the same minileague from 3-6.
http://nicklas-bendtner.com/
This one gives it a close run for its money
If RvP scores 25+ goals for us, and Arteta, Jack, Arshavin and Theo get their radar on, we can challenge the Chavs for third imo.
We’re shit but not that shit. Chelsea are getting on now. Lampard, Malouda Drogba Essien and Terry ,Anelka are all on the wane
The Theo abuse is just ridiculous – he hasn’t been that good but far from useless. Three starts and one goal so far this season and it would’ve been two if it wasn’t for a great goal line clearance yesterday.
Guess he’s the flavour of the month though so just have to accept people will jump on that bandwagon!
A,
and you think we can pip them to third?
*facepalm*
Did anyone see the little trick Theo did to get away the shot that got deflected and eventually led to the clanger by Vorm?
On the highlights on Arsenal.com at about 0:50s
I thought it was quite neat, its exactly what he need to add to his game. He’s 4 years Young’s younger. Don’t lose hope yet.
Rohan…Ah yes, I forgot all about the greatest striker in the history of football…NB! Clearly a legend in his own mind. He looked every bit as useless for Sunderland as he had for the Gunners. Can’t believe that anyone would actually want him.
A,
if he concentrated on the game instead of writing wank kiddie books, he could possibly develop a bit, but yesterday, he was fucking dire, he did not even show one bit of his trademark pace…
take this away and he is a championship player at best…
I think what this Arsenal team needs is sort of a squad boost to consolidate the creative midfield role. Alex Song, who can on his day create great scoring chances himself, and Gervinho, who has agility down the flanks and the creative skill to assist RvP in front. Both were sorely missed today.
We should be happy about the 3 points at Swansea, which was, yes, lucky, but was nonetheless well worked with good mechanized box to box play given there were 2 debutants for arsenal on the park…
We gooners just have to be a little bit patient, let a few matches roll in and we’ll be looking at a well-oiled squad of Walcott, Arteta, RvP and Per. I would still say we have a good chance of making the top 4!!
GO GUNNERS!!!
Yep agreed Rohan. It all depends on Jack and Vermy getting back fit, and how Arteta settles in. Chelsea aren’t anything special and have been on the wane for a while. It just depends if Mata can be the really special player to bump them back up another level or two, along with maybe Lukaku.
Although I don’t see Arshavin getting his radar on as such.
It’s all down to Szczesny keeping developing, Mertesacker and Vermy/Kos’s partnership in defence, Jack/Ramsey and Arteta’s partnership in midfield, and the goals that Theo, VP, Gervinho can provide.
There’s still a very good spine there, although they need to develop their understanding VERY quickly before we fall too far behind
A do you think Man Utd can continue their form with literally no CMs of note. I think City are ahead of Utd. Although Utd have much more experience of winning.
A…I do see Chelsea as strong enough. I’m not thrilled with Liverpool moving Mareilles (sp.) on deadline day and Carroll has been in less than acceptable form. I just don’t see LFC being better than 4th, the talent is just not fully there to stay up with Chelsea.
What’s really sad is that this conversation should include the Gunners, but what can you do? They are in a bad place and that is all down to Wenger and Board and we are left to sit on tether hooks week in and week out, looking for scraps of hope.
City’s squad strength is unbelievable. Their bench is arguably stronger than our first team even.
SUGA Theo was probably as dangerous as any other player yesterday….
Only denied a goal by a great goalline clearance, great feet on the edge of the box to get his shot away in the build up to the goal, and they resorted to fouling him off the ball constantly. He gave the ball away a fair bit too and wasn’t at his best but still provided a threat.
I don’t get why people act as if pace shouldn’t count as a skill?! It’s like saying if you took away Vidic’s strength, or Nasri’s agility, or Rooney’s shooting!
Theo wouldn’t be as good a player nor have anything like the threat he does without pace but he has pace so it’s an irrelevant statement!
Andy Carroll would be uselessif he was the same height as Arshavin, but he’s not
Rohan…Yep, that’s what unlimited resources can do for you…Buy a first and second team that can compete with anyone’s best.
Arshavin’s a really sad case. He has so much fucking talent. If he was arsed enough to give it his all, he could be the best player in the league.
Is Arteta faster than Cesc? Is there anywhere I could check.
A,
because he has nothing but pace?
I think it’s pretty damn poor to pick a player who needs acres of space to run into to be even remotely effective against a team that is certain not to give you any, goes to show how inept Wenger is…
A…Theo’s achilles heal is his decision making abilities, or lack thereof. Until he can get his head screwed on straight and tight, he’s always going to be up and down. He’s been around long enough to be able to figure it out by now, but quite honestly, he hasn’t and I don’t see it anytime soon either. Now he’s taken to opening his yap and complaining at everything. That is never good for anyone and for someone that shows as little mental strength as Walcott does, that’s just deadly bad.
I dunno Mayank – on paper Utd aren’t anything special but they’re still Utd, and just keep a solid midfield/defence whilst attacking with real pace and skill. City though could become incredible…. Surprised they havn’t signed a top top centre back to partner Kompany but other than that their side is just amazing.
Ernie we should still finish above Liverpool and Spurs. Liverpool’s hype is just silly, as you say they don’t really have that much talent, but just beat a very weak us and crap teams. Adam/Downing/Henderson/Carroll are not players to give them a title challenge
Probably Mayank. Atleast he definitely used to be.
SUGA Theo was effective yesterday, very nearly scored remember?!
He has pace, movement and finishing, but does struggle in other areas at times. He is constantly improving though and still very young. The fact that he scored and created as many goals as he did last season and people still slate him is partly ridiculous, and partly an indication of his potential
I don’t knwo if people realise football is full of players who are really good at one thing and go on to have great careers. If you’re better at one thing than basically anyone else in the world in football that’s a major advantage.
Anyone notice why teams don’t attack us down the right as much. And don’t say it’s just because of Sagna.
Arteta’s definitely better defensively than Cesc. And that pleases me infinitely. He gave a very mature performance yesterday.
If he can somehow up the creativity stakes, he’d be great for us. Benayoun was a bundle of energy as well when he came out.
I”m still worried about the DM position. Frimpong is worrying. We could’ve done with M’Vila.
M’Vila would’ve been incredible Rohan but sadly I think that ship has sailed now….
Frimpong was never the most reliable passer of the ball even at youth/reserve level, and still has a long way to go in those regards!
Coquelin in contrast is superb on the ball, and reads the game really well, but doesn’t have the same monstrous strength and power that Frimpong has.
If you could combine the two we’d have a really top top quality DM on our hands!